Terrified
by lysjelonken
Summary: There aren't many things on this Earth that scare Sam Puckett. But there's one thing that scares her to the very core of her being - Love. seddie


**Terrified**

**This is my first fic for iCarly. I'm not new to the fanfic world, and I've been reading on the iCarly archive for a while, but this is the first time I've gathered up the courage to post one here. Hope you guys approve. Will have some definite Seddie. Set before the Seddie-arc.**

**No sir, I do not own iCarly.**

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><p>There are not many things on this Earth that frighten Sam Puckett.<p>

Most girls scream at spiders, they freak out over snakes and jump on chairs at the sight of a mouse.

But not Sam Puckett.

Because Sam Puckett has seen many things much more scary than insects and vermin in her life. She's been hardened – that's it. Hardened to the point of near fearlessness. That's why she can do the things she does on a near daily basis. Walk through neighbourhood she walks through and face that characters she faces, talking much tougher than would be expected from a small blonde-haired teenage girl.

But there is one thing that scares the living daylights out of Sam Puckett – one thing that terrifies her to the very core of her being.

Love.

She realizes that she's an absolute stereotype. The tough-as-nails daddy's girl whose daddy let her down, now afraid that a boy will crush her fragile heart the same way, pushes everyone who tries to get close to her far, far away and nips any potential relationships in the bud before they could turn real. She's a character straight out of a half-baked young adult romance novel.

And then he came along...

Well, not exactly "came along". He's been there for years.

Freddie Benson, her nerd. The boy she loved to hate all through her childhood. The boy who grew on her – much like a fungus on a soggy piece of wood, she thought with a crooked smirk – and eventually became a friend. Then a _best _friend. And then...

It's not like she hadn't liked boys before. She was really into Jonah – before her epic betrayal and even more epic wedgie-bounce – and Pete as well. She never freaked out with them, because she knew they were easy. About as deep as a kiddie pool and content with it; and if they ever wanted anything _more _than the shallow, short-term relationship she'd provide, they're easy to get rid of.

But Freddie Benson isn't like them. He's the one who stuck around, despite the constant torturing and arguments. And she knows that at first it was because of Carly. But it hasn't been for a long time... Not since before they shared their first kiss together that night on the fire escape, all those years ago...

She sighs deeply, sipping on a Peppy Cola on the Shays' couch. They're all here, like they are most afternoons, chilling with Carly. She's upstairs now, planning an outfit for another date tonight. And he's working on the computer, doing something about the graphics on the website.

And she's on the couch, contemplating her depressing issues while drowning her sorrows in sugary fizzy drinks... And wondering if there are any leftovers in Carly's fridge to mooch off...

He's smiling, probably over something geeky and annoying, and the dimples in his cheeks deepen. Her heart flutters and she sighs again.

"Okay, what's up, Puckett?"

"Hmm?"

"That's the second time you've sighed like that. What's got you so gloomy and depressed?" He raises her eyebrows in that teasing way he does and she swallows.

"I don't know what you're talking bout, nub." She bites back, curtly, and downs the rest of the can before skulking off to bother Carly.

He can't know.

If he knows – about the way his dimpled smile makes her stomach drop, the way his random Spanish made her knees wobble, the way she feels sick in her stomach and euphorically happy and insanely confused all at the same time every time he walks in the room – then she'll firstly never live it down, and secondly...

He won't feel the same...

She knows it.

Because he's the charmingly geeky and surprisingly-hot-thank-you-puberty resident nub of iCarly and she's... an obnoxious and emotionally messed up delinquent.

She doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell.

So she walks up the stairs looking back to see him sitting at the kitchen table with a concerned look on his face, and forces herself to think about something else.

When she enters Carly's room her best friend looks up.

"Hey, you're here. How're you feeling, Sam?"

"Fine." She lies, smiling.

_Terrified_. She thinks, cringing internally.

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><p><strong>So..? What do you guys think? Please review! <strong>

**Much love, Zanny**


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